Posted
by
samzenpus
on Monday May 19, 2014 @09:34AM
from the strap-it-on dept.

dryriver (1010635) writes "Chinese technology startup ANTVR is raising funds on Kickstarter for a new, gaming oriented VR Headset capable of rivaling FaceBook's Oculus Rift VR Headset technologically speaking. The ANTVR headset features a full HD screen (1920 x 1080, 1 megapixel per eye), 100 degrees of FOV, 9-axis motion detect with low latency (1 ms), wireless communication, support for Playstation, Xbox, PC, Android gaming platforms, as well as an interesting 'virtual gun' type controller that can be folded open into a steering wheel or gamepad-type controller, and also holds batteries that can power the ANTVR for 3 — 8 hours. Interesting technical features include being able to detect whether the ANTVR wearer steps forward, backwards, to the left or to the right, and also whether the wearer crouches or jumps. The ANTVR headset also comes with a viewing window at the bottom of the unit that can be opened, so you can glance down and see your hands and keyboard and mouse for example. What makes ANTVR interesting is that it isn't a 'cheap Chinese knockoff of Oculus Rift'. A lot of original thought seems to have gone into making ANTVR a 'significantly different from a design standpoint' competitor to Oculus Rift. It now remains to be seen how much money ANTVR can raise on Kickstarter, and how many real world users/gamers opt for this new Chinese VR kit over the older — and currently — more famous Oculus Rift."

Not going to be giving money to a Chinese startup on Kickstarter. It's already difficult enough to determine which Kickstarters are legit, not even going to get into one's in sketchy countries like China

Getting VR right is very difficult. Early VR companies all discovered that not only was the technology not quite there (good VR would have been too expensive), but there are millions of little implementation details that you have to get right as well. Oculus has been struggling with that for years now, but they're finally getting close to a mass market product. I hope this company is as committed to getting the details right and realizes that there is more to the product than the bullet list of features on the box.

If they aren't careful, this could be like the old days (and some say current day) of smartphones, where you could go to Asia and pick up a phone that had an incredible laundry list of features on the box (full web browser! Tunes AM/FM/TV! Integrated music player! push email! etc...) but none of the features worked right and the interface was a convoluted mess and the thing crashed all of the time.